National Republican., 1887-04-20
Eyictions and Eyictions 1!

The eviction or dismissal of tenants for
non-payment of rent is, no doubt a sad thing;
hut will some warm. hearted and falr-mindad
person propose q remedy? Evictions How
many evictions of poor families are there In
Washington every year? In New'Tork city
there were over 10000 last year-more than
in all Ireland Can philanthropy cure this
distress near home p. Washington Post.
No one can mistake the animus Of this
article. The Post thinks that 1t would be
better for Americans to look after "evic
tionsn in New York, Washington, and
other places rather than attempt to inter-
fere with those three thousand miles away
in Ireland. 1t compares the eviction Of
tenants in a New York house or rooms with
the evictlons from the homes Of the tenant
farmers in Ireland, when, in fact, there is
no more resemblance between the two than
there is between the light of the unclouded
sun at MONDAY and farthing rushlight.
A tenant in New York or in Washington
rents house at a specified rent, agreeing
TO pay so much each month for the posses
sion and use of the premises, and failing to
pay, is evicted, as he ought to be, because
the owner of the property is entitled to its
Use.
now is It in Ireland? A man find piece
of hog or waste land that is utterly value
less to the owner. He says ~ will pay
.hillings an acre for this land," and the offer
is accepted. The man goes to work, erects
Lis ''sheiing,n and then by years Of the
hardest kind of labor reclaims the bog or
waste, and makes 1t productive. The agent
OF the landlord comes along and says, "This
land is now worth pound an acre." If the
poor tenant refuses to pay this price for the
land anade valuable by his labor, he is
"evicttd,n and the reclaimed land rented at
apound an acre.
Take another case. A poor man rents a
place and improves 1t by his labor. He
rcclaims land that was valueless, builds
houses, raises his family on it, and of
course has his rent raised. In due time he
passes away and his son succeeds him as
tenant. The thrift Of the father has made
the new possessor still better able to i'm
prove the property, which he does, render
Ing it still more valuable and paying still
higher rent.
This tenant dies and his son succeeds to
the farm where he and his father were
born, and he, too, improves it according to
his means. The alien landlord requires
more money, the agent is instructed tc
raise the rents, and if the tenant refuses be-
cause Of his inability to pay an increased
rent for the place on which the labor oI
three generations of his family has beer
placed, then he is evicted.
Americans are to some extent responsible
for the inability Of these Irish tenants tc
pay the increased rents demanded. The
wheat, mutton, beef, and other products o.
these farms are raised in this country, sen
to England, and sold cheaper than the,
can be raised In Ireland, where these enor
nous rents are demanded and paid.
And yet the Post compares this kind c
eviction, where the labor of the tenant ha
made the holding valuable, giving it all tn
value in fact that it has, with an eviction
from house in New York or Washington
where the landlord has bought the land
erected the house, and expended every dol
lar in improvements that Is expended.
The Post would do well to seek its com
PARSONS elsewhere when it endeavors tt
Ccield the coercion bill.